Super Fun Night's Liza Lapira on Why Men Should Watch Super Fun Night

And her eccentric karaoke style

You might recognize Liza Lapira from that show. Or that movie. The character actress has been about everywhere in small, usually supporting roles. She's getting her due as a lead in a series playing one of three misfit women on Super Fun Night (airing Wednesdays), the show written and created by Australian comedian Rebel Wilson. Lapira took some time on set to convince men to tune in and discuss the finer points of karaoke.

ESQUIRE.COM: A little busy today?

LIZA LAPIRA: A little bit. A lot of "Hurry up. Now wait. No. Turn around. Come back." Such is life.

ESQ: Well it's got to all be exciting with the new show. I got to see the pilot.

LL: Well, which one did you see? There's a couple now. There's the second episode, which has become the pilot.

ESQ: Really? I saw the one where you guys try to get in the club.

LL: Oh, there's a new one. That one's still good. But the new one, we go out to karaoke. So Rebel drags us to a karaoke bar to address her fear of singing in public in front of the guy she likes. So it's even worse. There's a great musical number. I've got to say there's been a lot of musical numbers in the show. It's very musical. We get to sing and dance and act like fools. It's great.

ESQ: How did you come onto the show? Had you known Rebel Wilson before? The sitcom seems kind of different for you. I think most people would know you as a cop in one way or another.

LL: Yeah. That's true. I went through a cop phase for sure. I didn't know Rebel, but I basically just went in for a meeting — and of course, she's delightful and funny in real life. I liked the idea of three nerds breaking out of their shell. So then it was a straight-up audition process.

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ESQ: They're pushing the show like crazy. I came out of the Lincoln Tunnel the other day, and there was a giant billboard of Rebel Wilson with these LED hearts on her boobs. Like, Welcome to New Jersey.

LL: I'm from New York, and I get from all my friends an endless array of her on bus stops, her in Times Square. She's all over Times Square with the LED flashing hearts. That's a very big part of our visual advertising. Her in that light-up bra.

ESQ: So you're born and bred in New York? When did you get to LA.?

LL: I've been here for a while now. I was just done with winters.

ESQ: So you got out there for the weather, not the acting?

LL: Yeah, it's the joke. But it's true. Winter makes me want to rage. You know how there's road rage? I feel like in New York or upstate New York, you're just like Dammit because you're so cold. So I came out here and learned how to drive and everything and I never left. It was like "Hotel California."

ESQ: You have such a TV career. You've been on everything — Dexter, NCIS — but you've kind of switched from cop shows to comedy.

LL: I think the first thing that I really did was Traffic Light, which was more of a half-hour sitcom. And from there I just got more comedic roles. So I think it was just what was in the ether at the moment. I mean, Dexter was out of nowhere. I was so in love with that character and that script. I'm sad to see it go. But I chase writing and try to do a good job and let other people decide. I can't wait to see what the next thing they decide I'm going to be is. I'm cheap is what I'm trying to say I am. "She's a lemming."

ESQ: We are a men's magazine, and Super Fun Night is a show about three awkward young women. Can you convince me as a guy to get behind it?

LL: Yeah. Man card-approved? Am I looking for man-card approval?

ESQ: Well, maybe not so douchey as an actual card, but would guys be interested in watching?

LL: Oh, no. Man card. Man card isn't douchey. I think Super Fun Night is twofold. I think A) funny wins. I don't think it matters where it comes from, who the person is, what they look like, their sex or whatever. And Rebel is freaking funny. She just is. And then speaking to the bigger theme, it's just about nerds in general. Not just nerds, but basically anyone. If we were gonna get meta about it, it's about stepping out of your comfort zone and doing the things that people always told you that you couldn't do. And then standing up to that and saying, "No, F that. I'm gonna go do it." I want anybody who's ever felt awkward to see the show. So I think that pretty much covers the planet. So we're good.

ESQ: Your character especially, with that crippling social anxiety where you just freak out in a new setting.

LL: Well, I looked it up online, agoraphobia. It is so common. The fear of being embarrassed. Well, that would be about 7 billion people. I love my character. But there are different types of nerd. Like Rebel's the big broad and the exploratory nerd. The one who's going to take the bull by the horns. Then there's the more sporty-jock nerd. And I think I want to say my character is the classic nerd. A little social anxiety, I have the glasses, haven't committed to the contact lenses, and haven't experienced much and am therefore fearful.

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ESQ: I'm curious about this karaoke episode now. Do you do much karaoke in real life?

LL: Yeah. You know, when I first moved out here I did. I haven't been in a while. There are the two types of karaoke. It's divisive, this form of entertainment. There are the ones who say, "I just want my friends. I want to be secluded." And they close the door in a private room. And then there are the exhibitionists who want to sing in front of strangers because that's what this is. There's a ton of places here in LA. So that was my big activity when I first moved here. Not so much anymore. Part of it's work. But part of it is — not to be a wet blanket — it's really hard to drink in L.A. because you have to drive everywhere. But everybody does it. And growing up in New York it was so drilled into me, don't drink and drive.

ESQ: And you can't karaoke stone-cold sober.

LL: It takes balls of steels to do it. I'll do it, but it's a different experience totally. And it's a different experience watching sober people sing as opposed to not-sober people sing. You tell me what's more fun. What's your go-to karaoke song?

ESQ: I was about to ask you that. I like John Denver's "Take Me Home Country Roads."

LL: Wow, you're an earnest karaoke singer.

ESQ: What do you do?

LL: Well, again, because I went a lot when I first moved to L.A. and it was kind of in tandem with that, it was "Hotel California" for a while. I like meaning in my frivolity.And I like talking during the musical interludes, a long one. Like I once got in a back-and-forth with Sophie B. Hawkins's "Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover."

ESQ: You have an open dialogue with your songs?

LL: I like to talk. That's why I can't karaoke in a private room. Those types of shenanigans are only good in a public space. I got to say, though, with smartphones and instant upload of everything, our generation and definitely the next generation coming up, it's going to be hard to act a fool.

ESQ: The girls of Super Fun Night don't seem to care.

LL: For sure. They actually went. It was after shoot and I was exhausted, so I went home like a true-life nerd. They went out and apparently they all killed it.

ESQ: It's assuring to know you're all buddies.

LL: We all hung out a little bit before filming. I guess you can get a vibe from someone that this person is cool. So after the first fifteen hours on set it was all good and fun. We like to eat and we like to sing and we like to make stupid jokes. Very true and very close to our characters. We're just jamming food on camera. There was a scene the other day where Rebel was just eating a giant turkey leg. I put my face into a bowl of cookies. Just know that that's my character. "So when you see the glasses and the tight bun and the eating everything in sight, know she really is a delight."

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